captioning funded by cbs and ford-- built for the road ahead. >> pelley: we don't use the word "breakthrough" often, but when you see how this pittsburgh mother of two, who is also a quadriplegic, controls this robotic arm with nothing but her thoughts, you'll agree there's no better word. >> i can move it up. and straight down. and left and right and diagonally. and i can go forward and back. >> pelley: that is just is the most astounding thing i've ever seen.

can we shake hands? >> sure. >> pelley: no, really? >> yeah. >> pelley: like, come right over here. >> yes, come over here. >> pelley: okay. oh, my goodness! >> as you send us your bombs, we will send you ours. >> logan: by the time of his death, anwar al-awlaki was at the top of the u.s. terrorist kill list. >> a jihad against america is binding upon myself, just as it is binding on every other able muslim. >> logan: he had become the operational leader of al qaeda in yemen and was in the midst of planning more attacks. morten storm was one of the few people awlaki trusted. what he didn't know was that storm had become a double agent. >> cooper: judd apatow has become one of the most successful names in film comedy today. >> when anything happens to me that's awful, i'm just so happy that i can put it in a movie. >> cooper: apatow is highly sought after as a producer on other people's movies, like

"bridesmaids." >> party! >> cooper: and he worked on "anchorman," written by will farrell and adam mckay. >> has judd apatow hurt people? oh, sure. ( laughter ) you're damn right he has. judd apatow is a monster. tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm leslie stahl. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm lara logan. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on "60 minutes." [ male announcer ] this holiday at sprint,

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does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. (blowing sound) ask your doctor about spiriva. >> pelley: in a decade of war,

more than 1,300 americans have lost limbs on the battlefield. and that fact led the department of defense to start a crash program to help veterans and civilians by creating an artificial arm and hand that are amazingly human. but that's not the breakthrough. we don't use that word very often, because it's overused. but when you see how they have connected this robotic limb to a human brain, you'll understand why we made the exception. to take this ultimate step, they had to find a person willing to have brain surgery to explore new frontiers of what it is to be human. that person would have to be an explorer with desperate need, remarkable courage, and maybe most of all, a mind that is game. the person they chose is jan scheuermann, a pittsburgh mother of two and writer, with a mind nimble enough to match wits on the "wheel of fortune" in 1995.

>> jan scheuermann: i'm going to solve the puzzle. "too cute for words." >> yes! ( cheers and applause ) >> pelley: when her mind triumphed, her brain sent signals of delight to every muscle in her body. but a year after this moment, those brain signals were being cut off. >> scheuermann: one day, i had trouble in the evening. i was making a lot of trips in and out of the car, it felt like my legs were dragging behind me. >> pelley: within two years, a genetic disease called spino- cerebellar degeneration broke the connection between brain and body. now, at age 53, jan scheuermann can move only the muscles in her face and a few in her neck. she's dependent on a caregiver for nearly all of her daily needs... >> 52 across. >> pelley: ...and her mother to help her solve the puzzles she loves. >> healed? >> scheuermann: oh, oh, you're good. >> pelley: at the same time jan scheuermann was putting her mind

to a new life, a neuroscientist, just across town at the university of pittsburgh, was imagining how people like jan might be restored. andy schwartz, on the right, is working on an ambitious defense department project called "revolutionizing prosthetics." four years ago, we visited his lab, and schwartz showed us how he implanted tiny sensors like this one into the brains of monkeys, and then wired them to a crude robotic arm. schwartz told us that, when the monkey thinks about moving his own arm, his brain cells, or neurons, fire off electrical signals. the sensor in his brain can pick up these signals and send them to the robot. so he's operating the arm in three dimensions-- up, down, forward and back? >> andy schwartz: as well as the gripper. >> pelley: what you're telling me is that the monkey is operating this arm with nothing but his thoughts? >> schwartz: absolutely. >> pelley: what are the chances that a human being would be able to do this same thing?

>> schwartz: oh, we think a human being could do much better. >> pelley: that conversation was in 2008. and since then, the $150 million revolutionizing prosthetics program has reached farther than most thought possible. >> geoffrey ling: awesome. >> pelley: dr. geoffrey ling, a retired army colonel and neurologist, is in charge. after seeing the wounded on several tours in iraq and afghanistan, he told his team that he wanted a breakthrough within five years. did any of them say, "look, colonel, we're not sure we can do this." >> ling: oh, absolutely. they... they thought we were crazy. but that's quite all right, because i think it's in our insanity that things happen. >> pelley: that madness led to genius in labs all across the country. at the applied physics laboratory at johns hopkins university in maryland, michael mcloughlin led the multi-million dollar engineering of what has become the most sophisticated

hand and arm ever developed. it's the same size and weight of an average man's arm and hand, and everything is inside, including the computers and the batteries. is there anything that your natural arm and hand can do that the mechanical hand can't? >> michael mcloughlin: well, i can do this. ( laughs ) >> pelley: okay. there's that. >> mcloughlin: we can't do that. but other than that, virtually everything your natural hand can do, this prosthetic is able to do. same strength, too. >> pelley: same strength? >> mcloughlin: same strength. so we can curl 45 to 50 pounds with the arm. >> pelley: they've thought of a lot of ways to use it. when set on wheels, it can bring a human touch where no human can go. in this demonstration, we wore a visor that showed us the video feed from the robot. these gloves moved the robotic hands. and we practiced pulling a wire out of a bomb. come on, give me that pinch. awesome. but the holy grail in the

project was finding a way to connect the robot directly to the brain. >> scheuermann: who wouldn't want to do this? when they told me... i heard about the study, i said, "oh, absolutely." i... i couldn't not do this. >> pelley: last february, jan scheuermann put herself on the line for a more sophisticated version of the surgery that they had done earlier in the monkeys. there's a brain surgery involved. it's experimental. why were you so excited about it? >> scheuermann: i've always believed there's a purpose to my illness. i didn't think i would ever find out what it was in my lifetime, and here came this study where they needed me. you know, they couldn't just pick any tom, dick or harry off the street. and in a few years, the quadriplegics and the amputees this is just going to help. the department of defense is funding some of this for the vets.

to be of use to them and service to them, what an honor. >> elizabeth tyler-kabara: what i'm going to do right now is i'm just going to make some marks here in your hair. >> pelley: the procedure was done by university of pittsburgh neurosurgeon elizabeth tyler- kabara, who showed us that the area that controls hand and arm movement is accessible right on the surface of the brain. what are the dangers? >> tyler-kabara: we worry about if we were to accidentally tear a blood vessel when we were putting them in, that we could cause a blood clot that would collect on the surface of the brain. probably the thing we worry about the most is the possibility of infection. >> pelley: i mean, you do have a connection through the skull to the outside world? >> tyler-kabara: absolutely. may i have some irrigations? >> pelley: during the six-hour surgery, two sensor arrays, each the size of a pea, were placed on the surface of jan's brain. >> woo hoo! >> pelley: then, they were wired to two computer connections called pedestals, the gateways

to jan's thoughts. you know, people are going to look at those pedestals in your skull, and they're going to think, "that has to hurt." is it painful? has it been difficult in any way? >> scheuermann: for a few hours after i woke up, i had the worst case of buyer's remorse. i was thinking, "oh, my god, i had brain surgery. why didn't anyone stop me? why didn't they say, 'jan, you're crazy'." but as soon as the headache went away, that kind of talk went away, too. >> pelley: five months after the whether she would be able to control the robotic arm with nothing but her thoughts. they plugged her brain into the computer and this is what we saw. >> scheuermann: i can move it up. and straight down. and left and right, and diagonally. i can close it. and open it. and i can go forward and back. >> pelley: that is just the most astounding thing i've ever seen. can we shake hands? >> scheuermann: sure. >> pelley: no, really? >> scheuermann: yeah.

>> pelley: like, come right over here? >> scheuermann: yes, you come over there. >> pelley: okay. >> scheuermann: let me grasp your hand there. there we go. >> pelley: oh, my goodness. >> scheuermann: move it up and down a little. >> pelley: wow. >> scheuermann: and i can do a fist bump, if you'd like. >> pelley: that's amazing. what are you doing, jan? what's going on in your mind as you're moving this arm around? what are you thinking? >> scheuermann: okay, the best way to explain it is, raise your arm. now, what did you think about when you did that? >> pelley: well, not much. i do it all the time. >> scheuermann: exactly. it's automatic. >> pelley: is that hard work? are you having to concentrate? >> scheuermann: it... no, it was hard work getting there. i struggled greatly to go up and down at the beginning. now, up and down is so easy, i don't even think about it. side to side, don't even think about it. >> pelley: just like your arms used to? >> scheuermann: yes. >> pelley: we asked dr. ling, the program manager, where all of this is headed. >> ling: i'm old enough to have

watched neil armstrong take that step on the moon. and... and to watch jan do that, i had the same tingles. because i realized that we have now stepped over a great threshold into what is possible, and very importantly, what patients can now expect in terms of restoration. this is a very important part-- not rehab, but restoration of function. >> pelley: i wonder what your experience with jan has taught you about the brain and the brain's ability to adapt to new circumstances. >> ling: i think it's taught me something really fundamental, and that is we are tool users. and our arms and legs are just tools for our brain. and so, when we give another tool-- in jan's case, a robot arm-- she will adapt to that tool to do the things that she wants to do. >> pelley: of course, many who could use a robot arm are not paralyzed like jan; they're amputees. and for them, the project has found a way to connect the arm without brain surgery.

57-year-old johnny matheny lost his arm to cancer. dr. albert chi, from johns hopkins hospital, found the nerves that used to go to johnny's hand and moved them to healthy muscles in his remaining limb. >> albert chi: now, elbow extension. >> pelley: sensors on his skin pick up the brain's signals from the nerves and use those signals to control the robotic arm. >> johnny matheny: come here, i want to see you. >> pelley: so even though the limb is missing, the brain still sends the signals as if the limb was still there? >> chi: correct. >> pelley: johnny, it feels in... in your mind like your hand is... is there again? >> chi: yes. >> pelley: as if your arm had never been lost? >> matheny: correct. >> pelley: unlike jan, the connection for johnny runs both ways. sensors in the fingers send signals back so he can feel what he's touching. okay, i'm holding the object and you can close on it. to see how well, we put him to

the test. hard or soft? >> matheny: soft. >> pelley: correct. very good. now, let's try again. i'm holding the object. hard or soft? >> matheny: soft. >> pelley: yep. quite right. all right. he got it right every time. hard or soft? >> matheny: hard. >> pelley: amazing. the next person to have jan's surgery will have additional sensors placed in the brain to receive the sensation of touch. andy schwartz believes that will help with some of the things that jan has trouble with. for example, sometimes, when she looks right at an object, she can't grab it. >> schwartz: okay, i'm going to take the cone away. just go ahead and close it. >> scheuermann: oh, sure, no problem. >> schwartz: so as soon as i take the cone away, there is no problem. but as soon as i put the cone there, she can't do it. >> pelley: why is still a mystery. the progress is coming rapidly. they are working on a wireless

version of the implant to eliminate the connection in the skull. and dr. geoffrey ling told us that the lab experiments will one day enter the real world. >> ling: and we're going to not stop at just arms and hands. i think that it's going to open the way for things like sight and sound. and... and my dream, i dream that we'll be able to take this into all sorts of patients-- patients with stroke, patients with cerebral palsy, and the elderly. >> scheuermann: i think when other quadriplegics see what i'm doing with the arm, they're all going to say, "oh, wow! i wish i could do that!" now, this is the way i like to eat cookies. awesome. thank you so much. ( applause ) i just feel very honored to be the one who gets to do it. >> go to 60minutesovertime.com to see the bomb defusing robot known as robo-sally in action. but we can still help you see your big picture. with the fidelity guided portfolio summary,

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>> logan: just over a year ago in yemen, a u.s. drone operated by the cia unleashed a hellfire missile killing one of the most wanted terrorists in the world, anwar al-awlaki. the american-born cleric had been waging holy war against his own country. because he was a u.s. citizen, it was one of the most controversial drone strikes in the campaign against al qaeda. to this day, the question of how the cia zeroed in on awlaki in that distant desert land remains a mystery. some of that will be answered tonight, and you'll learn how an unlikely danish spy named morten storm managed to get inside

awlaki's world and become one of his most trusted friends. and how, storm says, he helped lead that fatal missile to its target. >> anwar al-awlaki: as you send us your bombs, we will send you ours. >> logan: by the time of his death, anwar al-awlaki was at the top of the u.s. terrorist kill list. the muslim cleric had become notorious for his fiery internet sermons that incited attacks against america. >> awlaki: jihad against america is binding upon myself, just as it is binding on every other able muslim. >> logan: awlaki had plotted with the underwear bomber, umar abdulmutallab, and he inspired nidal hasan's shooting rampage at fort hood, texas, that left 13 dead. he had become the operational leader of al qaeda in yemen and was in the midst of planning more attacks. morten storm was one of the few people awlaki trusted.

what he didn't know was that storm had become a double agent working for danish intelligence and their partners, the cia, who wanted awlaki dead. >> morten storm: at that moment now, anwar needed to die by any means. he needed to be stopped. that was... >> logan: even though he was your friend? >> storm: he... he was not my friend. he was a person i needed to get close to to stop his evil in him. >> logan: how dangerous do you think he was? >> storm: very dangerous. >> logan: the two first met in yemen in 2006 when storm, a muslim convert from denmark, was as radical as awlaki. what did you think of him the first time you met him? >> storm: very kind person. you know, his character was... how... what do you call it, a joyful character. >> logan: did you two get on well from the beginning? >> storm: from the very first minutes. >> logan: and so you became friends?

>> storm: yes. i liked him because of his views of jihad, because that was my views, as well. >> logan: storm's path to extremism began in prison when he converted to islam at 21, a troubled kid with a violent past who had never found his place in the sleepy danish town where he grew up. what would people have said about you at that time? how would they have described you? >> storm: my reputation as a young teenager, i... i could punch very hard. i used to knock out a full-grown man with one punch. so, that's... and i was known for that. >> logan: he says islam offered forgiveness and comfort in ritual, a refuge for a young man who feared his life was going nowhere. >> storm: i felt good about it, praying, as if i was cleaned. my sins had left me. >> logan: it freed you from your past. >> storm: it did, yeah, and that's what i needed. >> logan: he moved to yemen, learned arabic, took an arabic

name, murad, and a muslim wife, with whom he had three children. by 9/11, he was immersed in radical islam and even named his son after osama bin laden. why would you do that? >> storm: because he was born in... just after 9/11, and osama bin laden was a hero. he was a muslim soldier who stood up against the big satan of america. >> logan: you know, many americans listening to that would be offended? >> storm: well, i'm telling the truth. >> logan: but over the years, storm began to have doubts about his faith. as dramatic as his original conversion was, so was his break with islam. this is how he explains it: >> storm: i typed on my keyboard, on my laptop, "contradictions in the koran." that's the first time i ever done that. what i believed in for those ten years suddenly was just ripped

away from me. i discovered that it was all fake. i made a decision not to be muslim. >> logan: you can't go from believing all of this for ten years to instantly not believing any of it, right? >> storm: you know... you know what? it can happen. that can actually happen. it was a roller coaster, a emotional roller coaster. >> logan: because you were giving up everything? >> storm: yes, of course. >> logan: so you made a decision. you called danish intelligence. >> storm: i called danish intelligence. >> logan: without saying why, storm arranged to meet danish agents at a hotel in copenhagen. he was well known to them as a hard-core extremist and they'd been tracking him for years. >> storm: so they say, "oh, well, murad"-- they say because that was my muslim name-- "what would you like to eat? would you like to have fish or vegetarian food?" so i say, "no." i say, "i want something with bacon, pork," i said, "and i want a beer." ( laughter ) so... and they were, like, in disbelief looking at each other.

i say, "i am no longer muslim and i want to fight these terrorists." >> logan: storm now transformed into a double agent. he says one of the most important targets he was given by the cia was his old friend, awlaki, an assignment that took him deep into the yemeni desert to meet the al qaeda leader. >> storm: two guys came out with a.k.s. i was like "( bleep ), if they know anything about me, i'm dead now." >> logan: inside, storm says awlaki was sitting in the midst of some 30 heavily armed mujahedeen, or "holy warriors". >> storm: well, he stood up. he say, "asalaam aleykem achi," like, "peace be upon you, my brother," he say. and he walked up. he gave me a hug. and i was, like, whew. ( laughs ) >> logan: at that meeting, storm told us, awlaki drew him into his small circle of confidantes and gave him the encryption keys to his secure communications network, which he showed us.

using couriers, they would now send each other flash drives with encrypted emails, photos and videos. awlaki asked storm to recruit followers and raise money for him, and he wanted something else. >> storm: he asked me if i knew any sisters who might be interesting in marrying him. >> logan: and you, of course, said? >> storm: yeah. ( laughter ) >> logan: storm says the cia saw awlaki's request for a bride as an opening, a way to get closer to the elusive terrorist. and they eagerly signed on to a plan to find awlaki a new wife. storm went on facebook, of all places, and tried to connect with awlaki supporters. >> storm: i had no one except for a woman contacting me, saying, "do you know sheik anwar?" i said, "yeah." and then, that was aminah. >> logan: aminah, a 32-year-old croatian whose real name is irena horak, had recently converted to islam.

she wrote to storm that she wanted to marry awlaki. to prove to her that he really knew the al qaeda leader, storm had awlaki send him this video, which he gave to us. >> awlaki: this recording is done specifically for sister aminah at her request, and the brother who is carrying this recording is a trustworthy brother. >> logan: when he says, "the brother who is carrying this video is a trustworthy brother," that's you? >> storm: that's me. >> logan: awlaki, who already had two wives, wanted to see his bride to be. >> awlaki: if you could also do a recorded message and send it over, that would be great. >> logan: storm made two videos of aminah, which have never been broadcast before. here she is in the first. >> aminah: brother, it's me aminah. i just taped this just to see... that you can see how i look.

>> logan: and then this, a second, more revealing video of her. >> aminah: brother, this is me without the head scarf so you can see my hair, i described it to you before. so now you see me without it, and i hope you will be pleased with it. >> logan: when we looked into aminah's past, we could find nothing to explain why this seemingly ordinary woman, who was once a champion runner and an advocate for the disabled, suddenly abandoned everything she knew and committed her life to a terrorist leader. by june 2010, she was living in yemen, in the arms of her new husband, anwar al-awlaki. why was the cia in favor of you arranging this marriage? >> storm: she would be a live bait to anwar without a doubt. >> logan: storm says the cia hoped aminah would lead them right to awlaki, and they rewarded him with a bonus, $250,000. he was so excited, he took this

photograph of the briefcase packed with $100 bills. but once aminah got to yemen, storm believes the cia lost track of her and awlaki. after he'd been missing for months, cia... u.s. intelligence had no idea where he was? >> storm: no. >> logan: and you found him in four weeks? >> storm: that's correct. >> logan: awlaki, who still had no idea storm had turned against him, sent a courier to him with a shopping list. it included bomb-making supplies. storm told us he left some of the harmless items on the list with a middleman and promised to deliver the rest later. he then arranged with awlaki for a pickup by a courier, and reported back to his handlers in denmark. >> storm: i didn't think any more about that. >> logan: until? >> storm: until, well, i read that anwar was killed. and... and i read how they tracked him down with-- that was my mission. >> logan: they tracked him down through a courier? >> storm: yeah. >> logan: storm read a newspaper

report that quoted unnamed u.s. intelligence officials as saying they tracked awlaki through a "young courier," a description that matched the courier his middleman said had picked up the items he left for awlaki. is there any doubt in your mind at all that it was your mission... >> storm: no. >> logan: ...that led to awlaki's death? >> storm: no. there is no doubt. >> logan: what did you think when you heard that anwar al- awlaki was dead? >> storm: it was a lot of joyment, i say, because it's good he died, anyway. it is good. >> logan: he says his joy turned to anger when he realized the cia was not going to give him any credit, or reward money, for helping to kill awlaki. instead, he learned from his danish spy masters that the cia denied it was his intelligence that led to the hit, and claimed they had a parallel operation.

furious, he went to confront his cia handler at a seaside hotel in denmark. in the hotel lobby, moments before the meeting, storm switched on his phone's video recorder and slipped it into his pocket. he gave us that recording, and you can hear storm challenging the man he claims is a cia officer, known to him as "michael." >> storm: the americans have failed in every single attempt to arrest or kill anwar awlaki, except when we went in. we just want gratitude from your government! >> logan: the american calmly tried to reassure him. >> michael: this whole thing was a team effort of which you played the highest role, okay. and it is because of that there are a lot of people in my government... >> storm: obama! ( laughs ) >> michael: i am talking about the president of the united states, okay? >> storm: yeah. >> michael: he knows you. the president of the united

states doesn't know who i am, but he knows about your work. >> storm: yeah. >> michael: okay? and for that, we are thankful. >> logan: morten storm wasn't satisfied, and it was after that meeting that he decided to go public, which is why he spoke to us. we asked the cia and danish intelligence for comment, but they both declined. by the time we met storm at a remote location in the danish countryside last month, awlaki's followers had vowed revenge. so you're going to spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder? >> storm: yeah. if i try to hide every day and be scared, they have won. >> logan: storm is working on a new identity for himself and his family. so what are you going to do? >> storm: i take one day at a time. >> logan: is this what your life will be now? >> storm: it's going to be. if it's going to be short or long, i don't know. but i don't regret anything. let's give thanks -

for an idea. a grand idea called america. the idea that if you work hard, if you have a dream, if you work with your neighbors... you can do most anything. this led to other ideas like liberty and rock 'n' roll. to free markets, free enterprise, and free refills. it put a man on the moon and a phone in your pocket. our country's gone through a lot over the centuries and a half. but this idea isn't fragile. when times get tough, it rallies us as one. every day, more people believe in the american idea and when they do, the dream comes true. we're grateful to be a part of it.

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>> cooper: judd apatow has become one of the most successful names in film comedy today. as writer, producer, and director, he's created a new form of comedy that's so popular, many of hollywood's top comedic actors want to work with him. we caught up with apatow in los angeles as he was putting the finishing touches on his latest film, called "this is 40." like many of his movies, it's about what he knows-- his family, his relationships, and the daily disappointments and dilemmas we all experience, but usually try to hide. judd apatow finds humor in all of it. there are comedians who tell jokes. >> judd apatow: yeah. >> cooper: but you don't tell jokes. >> apatow: i literally cannot remember one joke. >> cooper: there are not a lot of jokes in judd apatow's films.

"this is 40" centers on a man and his wife dealing with career failure and strains in their relationship. >> have you ever thought about killing me? >> oh, yeah? >> really? >> sure. >> how would you do it? >> wood chipper. >> wow. >> i know. >> cooper: what is your comedy? how do you describe it? >> apatow: just trying to tell the truth about, you know, the struggle of being alive is funny. it's just inherently tragic, and also hilarious, in a fun way and in a sad way. that seems to connect with people. >> cooper: the struggle to connect with people is a common theme with apatow. his brand of comedy revels in awkward or painful situations he mines for revealing, humorous moments. >> so next time you think about writing something nasty on my daughter's facebook page, i will come down here and i will... >> cooper: it's funny, but it... it's also kind of startling. >> apatow: it is, it is.

but we all want to scream at that little boy. in life, most of us don't scream at that boy most of the time. i have... i have said to the boy, "watch it. watch it. be nice to my daughter." but i never got into the full scream, like in the movie. >> cooper: judd apatow doesn't just make movies based on his own family; he actually uses his family in his films. that's apatow's wife, leslie mann, and those are his real children, maude and iris. >> you can't do this. you can't take away the wi-fi. >> you need to get outside more, do some playing outside. >> you could build a fort outside. >> what? >> play kick the can. >> get a tire, and then just take a stick and run down a street with it. >> nobody does that crap. it's 2012. >> you don't need technology. >> no technology! >> maude: in the movie, they take away... >> cooper: right. >> maude: ...the wi-fi out of the house. and they actually did take the wi-fi out of our house. >> cooper: visiting apatow's home feels like stepping into an apatow movie. why did you take the wi-fi out of the house? >> apatow: we think there's electronic waves which do bad things to your brain. >> cooper: oh, okay. >> apatow: we don't have any proof but... >> cooper: do you like having your whole family in your

movies? >> apatow: yeah, no, i really like it. it's kind of like this. like this is what the day is like. they are weirdly comfortable together and funny, and it's nice to, you know, see them every day. >> cooper: how did it start? how did you...? >> apatow: i just thought it would be interesting to see a real family in a movie, because it's always frustrating that you can tell the kids aren't the kids of those actors. >> cooper: do you ever find it too personal? like discussions you've had end up in a movie? >> leslie mann: i like that. i'm... that's... you know, my favorite thing is, like, the more uncomfortable, the better. >> cooper: has there been a moment or in any film where your wife has said, "do not put this in a movie?" >> apatow: no. she says something very different, which is, "oh yeah? you want to put that in the movie? why don't we show you doing this?" you know? "let's do the scene where you're

weird about having sex during pregnancy." and so she evens it out, she doesn't say "lose anything." >> cooper: the scene he's talking about wound up in his hit film "knocked up," which is about two mismatched singles who have a one-night stand that results in a pregnancy. like his new film, "this is 40," it reflects apatow's own insecurities. while it's hard to find a comedian who is not a bit insecure, apatow takes it to an extreme. he was even agitated about sitting down to talk with us. >> apatow: i had to think about which shirt would look good. i worried if the hair was going to come out from outside my shirt. i wonder if you could see that i have a gray nostril hair. i've been watching this show my entire life, so this is like important to me. i hope i don't screw it up. >> cooper: you've given more thought to this than i have, i have to admit. >> apatow: i know. because i... then i think, "he doesn't even care, he doesn't even care about me." ( laughter ) >> cooper: it sounds like he's kidding, but he's not, and apatow writes that fear and anxiety into his characters. >> i respect women, i love women. i respect them so much that i completely stay away from them.

>> cooper: the first hit movie he wrote, produced, and directed, "the 40-year-old virgin," starred steve carell as a socially immature adult unable to relate to women, never mind date them. you have made a career out of your lack of comfort. >> apatow: yes. writing is about trying to figure something out about yourself and about life. >> cooper: it sounds a lot like therapy. >> apatow: it is. it is a kind of therapy. it's almost like a letter to yourself. you're trying to frame your life and understand how you got here, and-- and what you should do now. >> cooper: apatow has wanted to be a comedian since he was a teenager growing up in syosset, new york. >> apatow: this is wkwz syosset. >> cooper: he worked at his high school radio station, and sought out stand-up comedians like jay leno and jerry seinfeld to interview. what was it about these guys that you wanted to be like? >> apatow: i just liked funny people who said that life wasn't fair, systems weren't fair. i felt like a nerd, i was, like, the goofy kid getting picked

last in gym class, so... >> cooper: literally, you'd get picked last? >> apatow: i mean, literally, like, after all the girls and people with disabilities, you know. and it's a rough thing to go through every day for ten years. ( cheers and applause ) >> judd apatow! >> cooper: apatow moved to los angeles and tried turning those painful high school experiences into stand-up routines. his roommate, adam sandler, was making it big in stand-up. but apatow's act wasn't working. >> apatow: so the night would be, like, sandler and paul reiser, and then robin williams would pop in, and ellen degeneres was there. and by the end of the night, i would just feel like, "i'm not as good as any of these people and i don't see it happening." >> cooper: what did begin to happen, says adam sandler, is that apatow began to make a name for himself as a writer of comedy for other people. >> adam sandler: then this guy started constantly writing, and then he'd get paid, so he was the first guy i saw just write. none of us were doing that yet. >> apatow: i realized that, you know, how i feel about life

works better in writing scenes and showing the different point of views that people have with each other. it just worked better than me, you know, giving a speech. >> cooper: judd apatow executive produced a show called "freaks and geeks." in it, he wrote about his experiences as a lonely child of divorce back in syosset, when every day after school, he studied comedians on tv talk shows. >> apatow: there's a moment where bill haverchuck comes home from school, and he lives alone with his mom-- i lived alone with my dad when i was a kid. and he makes grilled cheese sandwich, he cuts a big piece of chocolate entenmann's cake. he puts on the dinah shore show, and garry shandling comes on, and he goes from being miserable to just laughing and having the best time ever alone in his room. and that was, you know, a large amount of my afternoons when i was a kid. >> cooper: "freaks and geeks"

was canceled after just one season, but it gave apatow an early vision for what he wanted his work to be, a model he has stuck with to this day. seth rogen and jason segel, who were unknown teenagers when apatow cast them in "freaks and geeks," continue to appear in many of his movies, and apatow helps produce theirs. when judd started working with you, do you know what he said about you? >> seth rogen: no. >> cooper: he was quoted as saying, "this is the weirdest, oddest person i've ever seen." ( laughter ) >> rogen: i can see that. ( laughs ) i was a weird kid. >> cooper: apatow has helped turn seth rogen and jason segel into comedic stars. >> jason segel: i could be wrong, but i always felt like there was some element of like a monte christo-style revenge on your part, like, "oh, really? i'm going to make these guys so famous, like now what?" >> cooper: what do you think of his comedy? what do you think sets it apart? >> rogen: i think a lot of the thing that's great about it is it's really funny. it makes people laugh really hard. i think a lot of comedies just don't have is movies with very good emotional stories, you know?

>> cooper: there's a humanity to it. >> rogen: yeah. and just emotional stories that make sense. >> segel: because you get tired of, like, a movie that's all about jokes, after about 30 minutes. that's why a sitcom... >> rogen: for sure. >> segel: ...is that length. >> rogen: yeah. >> hey. >> what are you doing? >> cooper: judd apatow's films are certainly not for everyone. his critics say they are too long and the humor often too juvenile. there is a lot of bathroom humor in a lot of your films. >> apatow: yeah. >> cooper: do you ever feel like it's too much, or that it's immature? >> apatow: i just find immaturity is funny. i think we all start out pretty immature, and then we have to have this moment where we decide, like, "i'm not going to behave like that anymore". and i don't even know if that's a good thing. >> cooper: you haven't reached that stage yet? >> apatow: not really. >> cooper: apatow is also highly sought after as a producer on other people's movies, like "bridesmaids," which grossed nearly $300 million. >> will ferrell: i am ron burgundy. you stay classy, san diego. >> cooper: and he worked on "anchorman," written by will ferrell and adam mckay. they agreed to talk about how apatow works, but first, they

had to get some jokes out of their system while getting made up. >> adam mckay: has judd... has judd apatow hurt people? oh, sure. you're damn right he has. >> will ferrell: has he made a lot of money dealing arms? you betcha. he's one of the best. >> mckay: judd apatow is a monster. ( laughs ) tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. ( laughter ) >> cooper: as a producer, apatow encouraged ferrell and mckay to push the comedy to ridiculous extremes, particularly in a scene in which two stations news teams face off in a fight. >> mckay: and all judd did as a producer would say was, "there's more here." ferrell and i sat down, we're like all right, what happens if another news team shows up , what happens if another? and then we wrote the whole gang fight. >> ferrell: what happens if there's a guy on fire, and someone on horseback, what would happen? >> cooper: what happened is that "anchorman" took in more than $90 million.

now, they're all working together on a sequel. is his sense of humor different than yours? >> ferrell: judd, probably, is a little more story driven than we are. >> cooper: he wants there to be a through line or... or sort of emotional story? >> ferrell: but... exactly, yeah. >> mckay: he's got that crazy idea that there has to be a through line. ( laughter ) >> cooper: apatow's crazy ideas are more in demand than ever. he's one of the executive producers on the critically acclaimed hbo series "girls," and just guest edited a comedy issue of "vanity fair" magazine. >> cooper: you once said that when someone is laughing at something you've written, you know he doesn't dislike you. >> apatow: yes, it's... i... >> cooper: what do you mean by that? >> apatow: well, i... if you can make somebody laugh, you may not know they like you, but you know they don't hate you. >> cooper: and that matters to you? >> apatow: it shouldn't, but it does. >> welcome to the cbs sports update presented by emtraden i'm james brown with a will be at the nfl playoff picture starting

with next weekend's a.f.c. matchup. cincinnati travels to houston in a rematch of last year's wild card. indianapolis visits baltimore while denver and new england have byes in the n.f.c. minnesota a winner over green bay will play the packers again next week. seattle with face the winner of tonight's dallas-washington contest. atlanta and san fran have byes. for more sports news and cbssports.com. a typical family pays $155,000 t says in "wall street" fees on their 401(k)s? seriously? seriously. you don't believe it? search it, "401k 155k." then go to e-trade. and roll over your old 401(k)s to a new e-trade retirement account. we have every type of retirement account. none of them charge annual fees, and all of them offer low cost investments. why? because we're not your typical wall street firm, that's why. so you keep more of your money. e-trade. less for us. more for you.

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>> kroft: now, an update on our story about the kimbanguist symphony orchestra, an extraordinary assembly of 200 african musicians and vocalists we first met earlier this year. we called the story "joy in the congo."

as they told bob simon, the orchestra members began with nothing, except a desire to play. >> simon: you had no musicians, you had no teachers, you had no instruments. and you had no one who knew how to read music? >> no, nobody. nobody. >> kroft: since we first broadcast our story, the orchestra has been invited to perform in europe and is preparing for a concert in los angeles next summer. and so, in this holiday season, we offer the kimbanguist symphony orchestra with handel's "messiah." >> ( singing handel's "messiah" ) ♪ ♪ ♪

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